Paradise residents wait to return to properties, but much...

1of 2Trees and power lines intertwine down Edgewood Lane Sunday, Nov. 11, 2018 after the Camp Fire ripped through the town of Paradise, Calif.Photo: Jessica Christian / The Chronicle

2of 2Charred cars and downed power lines are seen on a residential street after the Camp Fire devastated the entire town of Paradise, Calif. Saturday, Nov. 10, 2018.Photo: Jessica Christian / The Chronicle

PARADISE, Butte County — Before walking out of a gas station in Chico, a man looked back at the cashier, smiled and said he would be returning to his Magalia home soon.

“They’re going to turn the power back on,” he called out before running out of the gas station market toward his white SUV.

His words, though full of hope, were only a rumor.

Crews were working furiously on Thursday to bring evacuated residents one step closer to returning to their properties in Paradise and Magalia to assess the damage.

Melted power lines need to be replaced. Wooden poles that had previously held up the power lines are now broken into pieces, some suspended from wires, and need to be restored. Trees that had burned from the inside out and are threatening to plummet to the ground at any moment need to be demolished.

“What do we do with people when they come back?” said Capt. Chris Vestal, a spokesman for Cal Fire’s Camp Fire incident. “It’s really a function of trying to get as much back into place because when people return, the city needs to be operational.”

Arborists on Thursday lined Skyway, the main thoroughfare leading into Paradise, cutting down damaged trees. The trees throughout Paradise and Magalia had been assessed and labeled with green or yellow paint into two priorities. “P1” was must go now and “P2” was must go eventually.

Trees determined to be P1 were to be uprooted and removed. Crews from Pacific Gas and Electric Co. were standing guard until arborists arrived to begin cutting the branches before taking down the oversized trunks.

“It’s a wildland urban interface,” Vestal said, pointing to the dozens of blackened trees surrounding what used to be homes in Paradise. “You have homes mixed with what’s essentially a forest.”

Crews had assessed the trees and power lines on the main roads, but neighborhoods like Skyway and Princeton Way remained untouched. Power lines had melted and fallen onto the ground. A red bike in the front yard of a now-destroyed home was still standing on its kickstand even though its tires had been burned off. Behind it, a tree had split down the middle after the blaze burned it from the inside. The trunk was broken into two large pieces that drooped toward the ground.

“People can’t come into these areas until the power lines and the trees are rendered safe,” he said. “Typically repopulation is allowed in phases. Once an area is out of danger people can go back.”

So far, it is too soon to tell which areas are out of danger. Dozens of crews have set up makeshift command centers throughout Paradise and Magalia.

PG&E workers removed downed power lines and replaced them with new ones. Wooden poles were brought in to hold the power lines up. Others hammered stop signs into place to function where the destroyed stoplights are.

And still, members of the search and rescue crews, dressed in white hazmat suits, face masks and equipped with rakes, scoured the border of Paradise and Magalia for human remains.

Concerns remain that a blaze could spark again, Vestal said.

Some piles of debris were still smoking and people like Joe Pearce, a water tender operator, checked to make sure that no more blazes would break out.

Pearce leaned against his water tender, a tanker that can funnel water from a hydrant or some other source, in the Magalia Plaza parking lot.

“We put out the containment line, and now our job is to make sure the fire doesn’t escape,” he said. “I’m just waiting here to see if anybody needs water.”

Sarah Ravani covers crime and breaking news at The San Francisco Chronicle. She graduated from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism in May 2016 where she produced work in audio, photo and digital storytelling. Her coverage included stories on police, race/identity, the LGBT community and human rights.